The Apocalyptic Landscapes of Alberta’s Oil Sands

More than 12,000 opponents of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline encircled the White House in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 6, weeks before President Obama's expected decision on what's become an iconic environmental battle.

Despite those problems, however, Keystone XL probably wouldn't be so controversial if it carried oil from old-fashioned, stick-a-tube-in oil fields. It doesn't. Alberta's vast oil deposits are dirty and hard to reach, mixed into sand or locked deep underground. Recovering the oil is a hugely energy-intensive process, multiplying its climate footprint at a moment when extreme weather is getting worse. And if the probabilistic links between climate and weather feel fuzzy, there's nothing nebulous about the apocalyptic landscapes that Albertan oil extraction leaves behind. Primeval forests and bogs are denuded and drained, replaced by barren slopes and toxic ponds. It may take centuries for life there to recover.

"It is surreal," said Jennifer Grant, who directs the oil sands program at the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental conservation group. "It is such a vast area. From the air, you can see over 170 square kilometers" — 65 square miles — "of tailings ponds alone. It's astonishing to see the sheer scale."

On the following pages, Wired.com takes a tour of Pembina's tar sands photographs.

Above:

A Very Big Pit

The Boreal Forest

Alberta's boreal forests are part of a subarctic biome that crowns North America. Growing on land shaped and scraped by glacial scouring, many of its plant and animal communities have evolved undisturbed since the last ice age. Boreal wetlands are a critical breeding habitat for almost half of all bird species found in the United States and Canada.

Tar Sands Mining

Unlike conventional, easily accessible oil deposits, tar sands petroleum is mixed with sand and clay and water, creating a thick slurry that is trucked to processing centers for refinement. Roughly one ton of sand is needed to produce one barrel of oil, and the Caterpillar 797B trucks used to carry tar sands are the largest in the world.

Tar Sands Drilling

While surface mining gets the most attention, most of Alberta's tar sands are locked in deposits too deep to access with truck and shovel. Instead these are extracted by a process of drilling and steam injection that forces oil to the surface.

"The drilling companies say, 'We're after the deeper oil. We don't have the same footprint.' But that's not true," said Grant. "It pollutes more. It's going to fragment a much larger area with pipelines and roads and facilities. It will fragment an area that's dominated by wetlands. Scientists say it's actually as impactful as the mining."

Image: A sign in Fort McMurray, Alberta, the city closest to the tar sand surface deposits. (David Dodge/Flickr/Pembina Institute)

Unknown Limits

Tar sands mining has grown faster than expected "and as a result they couldn't put environmental protection plans into place — wetlands policies, contaminant limits," said Grant. "What concentrations of pollutants are acceptable in the Athabasca river? What limits will protect air, land and water? We're continually now playing catch-up. Nobody has that information."

Image: Tailings ponds. The Athabasca River flows past in the upper left corner. (Jennifer GrantPembina Institute/Flickr)

Restoration

Though oil companies and government officials say mined lands will be restored, that's easier said than done — if anyone is even trying. Drained wetlands don't refill easily, and forest communities that evolved for thousands of years are very different than tree plantations.

Out of the 260 square miles mined so far, less than one square mile has been certified as reclaimed, Grant said.

After Keystone

If President Obama rules against Keystone XL, it won't stop tar sands mining and drilling, but building other pipelines won't be easy. The leading post-Keystone candidate is the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project, which would run from Alberta to the coast of northwestern British Columbia. Indigenous and coastal fishing communities will likely oppose the intrusion. "I feel like it's not a project that will be easy to get approval for," Grant said.

The Big Decision

After more than a century of fueling civilization with fossils, the easy oil — those places where dead plankton and algae accumulated for millions of years in prehistoric seas, were entombed at just the right pressure and temperature for millions more, then arrived after the tectonic upheavals of multiple geological ages in spots easily tapped by big metal straws — is nearly gone. What remains are places like Alberta's tar sands.

"Until five or six years ago, nobody knew tar sands were different than conventional oil drilling," said Grant. "There's been a shift in public engagement and public concern. There are policies indicating that the world is shifting away from higher-carbon oil towards a cleaner-energy economy. There's reason to be hopeful."

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